


He's Not Good Enough

by Alitomy



Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Booker | Sebastien le Livre Needs a Hug, Booker | Sebastien le Livre Whump, Date Rape Drug/Roofies, Gen, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Sad Booker | Sebastien le Livre, The Teams First Mission as a Six Piece
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-12
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:14:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26424688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alitomy/pseuds/Alitomy
Summary: It was their first mission as a team with Andy as a mortal and with Quynh by their side and Booker was going to do everything he could to ensure it went as smooth as possible, both to keep them all safe and to not give them a reason to throw him out again.
Comments: 7
Kudos: 150





	He's Not Good Enough

**Author's Note:**

> once again, i got carried away haha

Booker knew London was cursed. 

First, it was where the whole Merrick thing went down. Second, it was where the team had decided to banish him from the group for a hundred years. Third, he just had a hunch. 

He had only been in exile for six months before Quynh showed up in his Paris apartment, taking him hostage and throwing him over the side of her yacht for him to drown over and over as she had done for five hundred years. He thought it fitting, to be punished like this, even if it was just a ploy to get the team to reach Quynh faster. He deserved to feel Quynh’s pain. 

That’s why he was shocked when the team had wanted him to stay after they rescued him from the torment at Quynh’s hands. The conversation was short, the others insisting he stayed so they could watch over him, making sure he doesn’t kill himself through alcohol. Booker knew the wounds were still fresh and the emotions were still boiling over when it came to him being back so early, but he didn’t need to be watched.

Booker wasn’t a child, but they certainly made him feel like one. 

~

It was their first mission as a team with Andy as a mortal and with Quynh by their side and Booker was going to do everything he could to ensure it went as smooth as possible, both to keep them all safe and to not give them a reason to throw him out again. 

They were back in London and the previous events all hung over them heavily. Booker didn’t make eye contact with any of them as they drove to the job, passing the skyscraper that had held them captive only a few months ago. He fiddled with his fingers as they drove, quiet conversations in ancient languages being held between the couples as he and Nile stayed silent. 

The job was rather complex in Booker’s mind. They were targeting an underground sex trafficking ring that was built under one of the busiest casino’s in London, so being discreet was of utmost importance. 

Nile, Andy and Quynh were going to play tourists, getting tipsy and playing poker with some of the best players in the area. Booker had managed to find intel on those players and how they were connected to the trafficking ring, so he had written the ladies up with connections that would validate them sitting at the table. 

Booker had to keep an eye on the women while half-assing his own game on the slots. Even though they could filter whatever drug they were spiked with, Booker had discovered that it would take longer for them to return to a sober state, and they couldn’t afford that. 

Nicky and Joe were roaming the floor, watching every patron with an eagle eye to determine if they could be a possible suspect. The team knew the players at the table were the ring leaders, but they couldn’t be too careful with the amount of people gambling their lives away on the floor. There were too many young people drinking excessive amounts of alcohol for them to be complacent. 

Even if they didn’t target Nile, Andy, or Quynh, they could go for someone easier. 

Like Booker. 

~

Booker had taken his eyes off his drink for a mere second, but that’s all it took. Someone had bumped into the back of him and he turned around to curse them out in multiple languages before he returned to his game, sipping the drink. 

That was the last thing he remembered.

He woke up in a cell with his hands tied behind his back. He couldn’t feel his concealed weapons on his person anymore, and as he blearily looked around the space he found that he was in the company of two young looking women and three men. He was definitely the oldest of the group, which made him more confused. 

He was in no way desirable to anyone in his state; long hair slicked back enough that it looked greasy, sad eyes that had dark bags underneath, the smell of cigarettes flowing off him. 

So why was he here? 

_’Fuck,’_ he thought. _’The mission.’_

He fucked up. He always fucked up. 

Booker’s eyes widened. What was a simple enough mission now turned into a rescue job, which would more than likely put them in the spotlight of the other patrons. They were meant to stay incognito on this, getting the intel and passing it on to Copley but now they had to rescue his stupid ass. 

_“Booker,”_ the voice in his ear startled him. He had thought his captors removed his earpiece alongside his weapons, but they mustn’t have thought that highly of him. _“Booker, where are you?”_

“Nicky,” he whispered, looking around in case any guards walked by. “I think- I think I’m in the ring.” 

_“You’re downstairs? Tell us what you see?”_

Booker looked around once more, staring at the five other victims who were still unconscious. “There are five other vics, three male two female. My hands are tied behind me and I’m in some cell. It’s really dark, I can’t see much.” 

His voice wobbled slightly. He’d fucked up. They had to detour the job just to get him out. He doubts they’d let him back on another job anytime soon. 

_“Listen, Book, we’re gonna come get you,”_ Nile mumbled, and Booker could hear the clutter of chips, meaning she was still at the poker table. 

“No, no, get intel first. Worry about me later,” he insisted, before falling silent as flashes of light shone on the walls outside the cell. Hearing the voices of the guards, Booker closed his eyes and pretended to still be unconscious. If the other victims were still out the guards won’t expect him to wake up anytime soon and he might have an advantage. 

Through the coms, he heard the others forge a plan to come get him and he _heard_ their disappointment. It wasn’t like they were trying to mask it. 

Keys rattling brought his focus back in front of him as the guards opened the door, snickering and making crude comments about the two women in the other corner of the cell. Booker felt a kick to his calf and it took everything in him to not react.

“What’s this old fart doing here? Thought the boss only wanted under 30’s?” One of them spoke, and by God did he sound a lot like Merrick did. 

“I heard he has a buyer interested in the elderly,” his partner replied, sniggering. “This one looks European enough for them so Boss said to get him. He looks pretty fucked up, though he had a few weapons on him so I don’t know what to think.” 

“S’Not our business to psychoanalyse the products, dude,” the first guard spoke again, before Booker felt himself being hauled up. Still feigning unconsciousness, Booker cracked open one eye to see where they were taking him. He only saw dark corridors, which frustrated him. How many underground tunnels can one London skyscraper have beneath it? 

_“Booker? We’ve got access to underground, are you safe?”_ He heard Andy speak into his coms, and his heart rate sped up a bit. Could the guards hear it? He let out a negative sounding grunt and heard a few curses on the other end. Booker was dropped to the ground after hearing a door open and close, and he groaned as he felt a kick to his side. 

“This one’s waking up much quicker than usual, Boss. Do we drug him again until the buyer comes?” 

“No,” a woman’s accented voice spoke. Booker thinks she’s German. “Let him wake. This has not happened before.” 

“Isn’t that besides the point? He had weapons on him, that should make him dangerous right?” 

“Stop talking!” The woman shouted. “Let’s see if he fully wakes.” 

Though Booker had been awake for a few minutes now, he hadn’t been hit with the full aftershocks of the drug. As bile shot up his throat and out his mouth, he twisted his head sideways so he didn’t choke on it. The guards jumped back as he vomited once again, groaning once his stomach had settled enough to be comfortable. 

“Extraordinary,” the woman spoke. “Vomiting doesn’t usually occur until the fourth hour.” 

“Fuck you,” Booker groaned as he spat out the remaining liquid in his mouth. “Fuck you.” 

“Oh I’m sure there’s time for that later, darling, but right now I’m interested in something much more fascinating, such as how you’ve managed to overcome our drug so quickly. Usually it takes people a few days for it to be completely out of their system, but you.. It’s only taken you a few minutes.” 

“I guess I’m special then,” Booker mumbled and felt another wave of vomit arise in his throat. 

He’s never felt this gross in his two hundred and fifty years of living. 

The woman hummed and wrote something in her notebook as Booker sat up, eyeing his surroundings and the guards that had brought him in. 

Silence meant he could hear the gunfire loud and clear. The two guards hurriedly went to the woman’s side with their guns drawn, but Booker knew they didn’t stand a chance against four millennia-old warriors and a US Marine. Using his feet to shuffle himself out of line with the door (and away from his own vomit), he waited in the shadows, feeling himself shake slightly. 

Whether he was scared or full of adrenaline he couldn’t tell, and that was the scary part. 

The door burst open and bullets shot across the room, taking down the three enemies quicker than they could get a shot off. Andy, Joe and Quynh ran over to the dead bodies to verify their deaths, but also to gather any more intel possible from the many papers scattered on the desk. 

Nile ran over to Booker and cut his hands free, placing her hands on his cheeks and looking at him. “Book, are you alright?” 

The Frenchman was still shaking, and he shook his head as he rubbed his wrists. “There are other victims, we need to get them out of here.” 

“We did. We found them as we navigated this maze of a place,” Nicky added, coming to their side. “They’re going to be okay, Booker.” 

Booker let out a sigh of relief, glad that the innocent victims won’t be subjected to whatever horrors these assholes had planned for them. “I’m sorry.” 

“What for?” Nile asked softly. 

“I fucked up. I fucked up the job, made you guys worry about me instead of focusing on your parts. I’m sorry, please don’t send me away again,” Booker rambled, his whole body shaking now as the other’s frowned. 

“Booker, you didn’t fuck up. If anything, you saved five people and got us all the intel we needed,” Andy walked over and crouched down, placing a hand on Booker’s shoulder. “We’re not going to leave you again, okay?” 

“How can you say that? If I just stuck to my role and didn’t get drugged like some idiot-” 

“We wouldn’t have found this place, nor killed the boss,” Andy smiled softly. “You need to get rid of this inferiority complex, Book. Sure the plan didn’t go accordingly, but in the end everything worked out, and we’re alive.” 

Booker looked at her for a full minute before looking at the others, who all returned his look with worried ones of their own. He knew deep down he didn’t completely fuck the mission up, but it was going to take a long time for him to believe he was allowed to fuck up, and that things were going to be okay in the end. 

That the team was still going to love him no matter how many times he fucked up.

“O-Okay,” he stuttered, looking down at his hands. “Can we get out of here now? I am not loving the smell of my own vomit.” 

Andy laughed and pulled him to his feet, wrapping an arm around his shoulders as the group walked out. 

Together.

**Author's Note:**

> dont we all love some self-doubting booker whump 
> 
> follow me on tumblr: alit0my


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